Volvo becoming unlikely performance brand

Volvo, the brand known for durable, safe and sometimes stodgy cars, may become the next performance brand.

Yes, Volvo, the Swedish brand that immediately brings to mind tough sedans, station wagons and crossovers that hold up in Swedish winters and take rollovers in stride. Strong, but never fast. Until now.

Volvo just announced that it has purchased all of Polestar, a tuning outfit that has drawn more power out of Volvos since 1996.

Volvo has been proud enough of its association with Polestar that it showed the the V60 Polestar wagon at the 2014 Chicago Auto Show. The Arctic blue — er, rebel blue — family hauler scooted to 60 miles per hour in less than 5 seconds. It was helped along by a six-cylinder engines that develops 345 horsepower.

If Volvo's Polestar plan succeed, it will join other brands that have also started performance labels.

Among them are BMW M, Mercedes-Benz AMG, Audi RS, Lexus F and Cadillac V-Series.

The performance arm won't just be about turbochargers and chassis tuning; Volvo says it aims to use "electrification technology" in its Polestar cars, too.

Despite its image, Volvo has some performance chops, if you remember the 1990s-era 850 T-5R or the S60 R and V70 R that came a decade later. Luxury shoppers can expect more performance-oriented Polestar variants of Volvo cars down the road, but you might have to wait for one. Volvo said it plans to sell just 1,000 to 1,500 Polestar cars worldwide per year "in the medium term," which is up from the 750 V60 Polestar wagons and S60 Polestar sedans it expects to sell in 2015.